Movement, Style, School or Type of Art:
Mannerism
Date and Place of Birth:
ca. 1541, Candia (now Herakleion), Crete
Life:
El Greco is arguably the best-known Mannerist painter. Born on Crete (then a possession of Venice), he learned his craft in the Byzantine manner. He later spent enough time in Venice itself to pick up dramatic color techniques, then synthesized all into a whole after settling in Spain. The spirited Counter-Reformation going on in his new (and last) home lent itself to his mystical/religious themes. His style was so completely unique that it died with him, its loss unnoticed for centuries.
Important Works:
- The Disrobing of Christ, 1577-79
- The Burial of Count Orgaz, 1586
- The Agony in the Garden, ca. 1590-95
- View of Toledo, ca. 1597
- Laocoön, ca. 1610
Date and Place of Death:
April 7, 1614, Toledo, Spain
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